At Last
by existence555
Summary: By the time James finally told Lily that they had fallen in love, it was too late for her to argue. A series of moments over which Lily becomes friends with and then eventually falls for James. Oneshot!


**A/N: I wrote this for the "Things I Would Do For You" competition over on HPFC. The prompt I was given was "Very publicly announce my love for you" - the idea kind of got away from me and turned into a full blown Lily/James story. Please review and let me know what you think! :)**

The friendship began in the library, as was routine for Lily but unheard-of for James. In fact, his very presence in the place was odd, but for Lily, it was home. It was to be in the comfort of her own territory that she would finally meet the James Potter she would fall in love with.

One late night in their fifth year, Lily was working on an essay in a remote corner of the library when she heard the rustling of robes.

"Hello?" she said, looking around. "Is someone there?"

Silence greeted her, and her fingers closed around her wand. She listened for a moment and heard the noise once more. This time, she turned towards the shelf of books behind her and found the perpetrator.

"Potter?" Lily asked incredulously. "What are you doing here at this time?"

She put her wand back on the desk and narrowed her eyes at him.

"What, you've never heard of a midnight rendezvous in the library, Evans?" James grinned. "Sitting in a place like this, I'd guess you've had your fair share."

Lily's cheeks reddened, but she rolled her eyes.

"It's well past midnight, and I'm just working on the Transfiguration essay," she told him. "If you've got some girl meeting you here, pick another snogging spot."

"Coincidentally, I'm also here to do some studying," James replied, sitting down across from her. "Mind if I join you?"

Lily didn't bother protesting, and he pulled out a roll of parchment and the Potions textbook.

"The Potions essay was due yesterday, _Potter_ ," she told him pointedly.

"Which is why I already turned it in, _Evans_ ," James shot back. "This is due next week."

Lily blinked rapidly. Not only was James Potter in the library, he was apparently here to get ahead on assignments for the next week – that too, while _she_ was working on an essay due the next day! Upon seeing Lily's confusion, James smirked.

"Your essay, on the other hand, is due tomorrow," he remarked. "Having some trouble, are we?"

"No," Lily replied immediately. "It's going fine."

James tilted his head to one side and looked at her skeptically.

"I can help you if you'd like," he offered.

Lily could only stare blankly at him as she felt her world continue its sudden turn upside down – James Potter in the library at this time of night for the explicit purpose of working ahead of the class schedule, and then offering to _help_ her on an assignment? Marlene was right – she really did have wacky dreams when she stayed up too late.

"Evans?" James said worriedly, reaching out to touch her hand. "You alright?"

Lily recoiled from his touch but nodded.

"Yes," she told him. "I suppose some help wouldn't hurt."

"One condition," James smiled.

Internally, Lily groaned. This was not a dream, she thought – it was simply another ploy to get her to go out with him. But he shocked her once more.

"You can't tell anyone I was here," James said. "At least, not that I was working. I've got a reputation to uphold, you know."

"A reputation, of course," Lily laughed, internally breathing a sigh of relief. "I'll tell them all you were here with some pretty seventh year."

"Or a pretty fifth year," James shrugged.

Lily resisted the urge to smack him with her unfinished essay, while James just looked at her innocently.

"Ready?" he asked. "We're running out of time, and vanishing spells are an important part of the O.W.L.s, you know."

Lily couldn't help but laugh at the suddenly serious look on his face.

"Alright, Potter," she agreed. "Show me what you've got."

That night in the library, Lily let her guard down around James for the first time. From that week onwards, they started occasionally studying together. Not often, and never in public – always at the same, remote table at the same, ungodly hour. And so a friendship began to bloom.

:::

They didn't schedule their study sessions, but James generally had a good idea of when Lily would be in the library. That was why he was so worried when he got to their usual table and she wasn't there. Adjusting his bag on his shoulder, James hurried back to the Gryffindor common room.

It was late enough that nobody should have been around, but he noticed a familiar bag propped up against a chair near the fire.

"Evans?" he asked tentatively.

When he didn't receive a response, he approached the large chair and found the sleeping Lily Evans curled up with a textbook. James smiled before gently pulling the textbook from her grasp and putting it in her bag.

"Marlene?" Lily murmured.

James leaned back over to look at her, but she still appeared to be sleeping.

"The library," Lily continued. "I've got to go…"

She trailed off, her sleep talk deteriorating into nonsense.

"I think you can take a night off," James laughed. "You clearly need it."

"Potter," Lily said faintly.

"You got me," James replied, though he was quite sure she couldn't hear him. "I was worried about you."

He looked in the direction of the girls' dormitory, but he knew (from previous attempts to sneak up) that he would not be able to carry her to bed. The spell on the staircase would not allow it. For a long moment, James looked at the girl he had been spending late nights with, the girl he had been chasing for most of his Hogwarts career.

"Guess I've got no choice," James grumbled.

He went upstairs to get the comforter from his bed and the spare blanket from his trunk. When he came back down, he tenderly spread the blanket over Lily before settling into the chair next to her.

"Good night, Lily," James whispered.

When he woke up a few hours later, he was alone. Sighing, he stretched in an attempt to relieve some of his discomfort and caught sight of his blanket, neatly folded on the floor next to his chair. Next to the blanket was a cup of tea that he found was still warm to the touch.

As James lifted the mug to his lips, he noticed a scrap of parchment stuck to the bottom.

 _Thanks for the blanket._

James grinned.

:::

Lily walked into the classroom, book in hand, ready to oversee detention. Professor McGonagall had told her that today's session would be mostly empty, so she was hoping to get some reading done. This hope was utterly crushed when she realized that James was the only person in the classroom.

"Hello, Potter," Lily sighed.

"You're looking lovely today, Evans," James replied. "Glad to see that I've finally made it into one of your detentions – Remus can be so strict."

Lily pulled the supposed list of attendees from her book and frowned.

"Where's Black?" she asked.

"Oh, he was otherwise engaged," James said breezily. "I thought we could spend some time together just the two of us."

Lily rolled her eyes and sat down at the desk in the front of the classroom.

"Lines," she told him. "How about 'I will not flirt in detention' 200 times?"

James got up and started walking towards her with a smirk.

"Prefects aren't allowed to give lines," he retorted. "You're just supposed to make sure I'm here for the next hour."

"Damn it, Remus," Lily swore, under her breath.

James had made his way to the desk now, and he simply stood there grinning at her. Lily was thoroughly unnerved – she was not used to spending time with him in the daylight hours.

"I was thinking of getting some studying done," she told him. "You can join me or shut up."

Thinking that she had effectively shut him down, Lily leaned back in her chair and opened her book to a lovingly dog-eared page. Her relief did not last long, as James soon reached over and closed the book before snatching it from her.

"We do enough studying, don't we?" James smiled. "Why don't we just talk today? You must need a break too, Evans."

It was the first time that either of them had acknowledged their late night study sessions in the course of regular life, and silence fell over the classroom as Lily stared at James. After taking a moment to think, she reached over to reclaim her book.

"Evans, come—" James began, but stopped when she left the book on the desk.

"Well, get on with it," Lily told him, the corners of her mouth quirking up in a small smile. "If you want to talk, you've got to start a conversation."

James grinned widely.

"You got a favorite Quidditch team?" he asked.

"The Chudley Cannons," Lily responded, without hesitation.

James looked at her for a moment, trying to decide whether she was serious, and then threw his head back in laughter.

"The Cannons?" he said incredulously. "This just proves what I thought – that you know nothing about Quidditch. They haven't won since—"

"Since 1892," Lily finished. "It's just like you to assume that anyone who doesn't obsess over your mediocre turn as a Gryffindor Chaser doesn't know anything about Quidditch. I happen to like a good story – they're an underdog."

James stared at her, open-mouthed. He hadn't heard anything past her scathing review of him as a Chaser.

" _Mediocre_?" he asked. "How dare you, Evans?"

Lily grinned mischievously at him.

"Everyone says you're a shoo-in for Captain next year," she sighed. "I suppose there is really no chance for Gryffindor to win the Quidditch Cup in my time at Hogwarts."

James glared at her, and she simply shrugged.

"I'll show you, Evans," he promised. "I _will_ lead Gryffindor to victory, you'll see."

"I won't hold my breath," Lily told him, smiling. "But if you do, I will think about reconsidering my opinion of your Quidditch skills."

"And your opinion of me?" James added hopefully.

"Let's not get carried away," Lily giggled.

:::

It was Sirius, not James, who initially found Lily crying over the loss of her friendship with Severus. She was sitting in one of the chairs in the common room that faced the fire, and nobody else was around. His date had run longer than expected, and he came back to Lily's sniffles.

"Evans?" Sirius asked. "Is that you?"

Lily cleared her throat and buried her face in her knees, which were pressed up against her chest.

"Go away," she said. "I'm studying."

"You shouldn't let textbooks make you cry like that," Sirius told her lightheartedly, as he made his way over and sat in the chair next to her.

Lily glared at him through the crack between her knees.

"Go away," she repeated.

But this only seemed to make Sirius more determined to stay – he leaned back and settled into the comfy chair before speaking again.

"My brother has fallen in with a bad crowd," he informed her. "The same crowd Sniv—Snape has fallen into."

"Severus _chose_ to fall in with them," Lily snapped. "Regulus is just a boy."

"He should know better by now," Sirius said harshly.

The taken aback Lily looked up at him, and he finally saw how red her eyes were.

"I think I better get James," Sirius decided. "He's been worried about you."

"You know?" Lily asked.

Sirius looked at her quizzically, and she sighed.

"You know that we're friends?" Lily clarified. "I didn't think…"

She trailed off, and Sirius grinned.

"James will be delighted to hear that you think of him as a friend," he told her. "Or, to be honest, that you think of him at all."

At that moment, before Lily could react to his statement, James wandered down from the boys' dormitory.

"I was just coming to get you, Prongs," Sirius called. "I've got a class A damsel in distress here by the name of Lily Evans."

"Oh, shut it," Lily said, hurriedly wiping the tears from her cheeks.

Sirius and James exchanged worried looks as they traded places – Sirius went up to bed, while James came to sit with Lily.

"It's Snape, isn't it?" James asked.

Lily didn't answer, but she didn't have to.

"He's a git," James sighed. "The people he surrounds himself with… Stay away from them, Evans. Stay away from him."

"You must be pleased," Lily said bitterly. "You've been proven right, and my best friend has turned on me."

James blinked a few times, in shock, but the grieving Lily didn't catch the wounded look on his face.

"I never wanted to be right," he told her, after a moment. "I'm sorry."

Hesitantly, he reached out to take her hand in his own. She said nothing, but did not pull away.

"Maybe Sirius would be better to talk to," James said uncertainly, while she remained quiet. "He probably understands better, with Regulus and all. Or maybe you want to be alone – I guess I don't really know what the right things to say are."

Lily bit her lip, realizing how she had hurt James, and slowly shook her head before opening her mouth to speak in the smallest voice he had ever heard her use.

"I'm sorry," she apologized.

James wanted nothing more than to scoop her up in his arms and tell her that everything was going to be okay and that he would hex Snape to moon if it would make her feel the slightest bit better, but he limited himself to a comforting squeeze of her hand and an understanding smile.

"I'm here for you," he told her simply.

Lily squeezed his hand back before pulling her arm back and standing up.

"Thank you, James," she told him, returning his smile.

She left the room, but James was too dazed to react – it was the first time she had ever called him by his first name.

:::

One night on the way back from the library, Lily happened upon James and Sirius getting a stern talking-to in the hallway. The pompous Hufflepuff prefect was so animated in his scolding that he was walking in circles, completely oblivious to the fact that the two Marauders were doing quite the impression of him behind his back.

"Hello, Smith," Lily grinned. "What have you got here?"

The prefect stopped in his path to look at Lily.

"Oh, Evans, thank goodness you're here!" he exclaimed. "These two somehow made it to Hogsmeade and back without being detected! Can you imagine, the nerve of these two?"

He went on, and Lily suppressed a smile as Sirius widened his eyes in faux innocence and James gave her an exaggerated shrug.

"You know, Smith," she said, cutting him off mid-sentence. "These two are nothing but trouble. Why don't you let me handle them today? Time for rounds is almost up anyway."

The blonde prefect considered her proposal for a moment before nodding.

"I'm sure I can trust you, Evans," he declared. "Dock them some points for me, will you?"

"For you, anything," Lily replied winningly.

Satisfied, he walked off in the other direction. Sirius turned to Lily with a grin.

"Thanks, Evans," he told her. "We were in a bit of a tight spot there."

"Very kind of Evans to put in a good word for us with her boyfriend," James agreed irritably.

Lily raised an eyebrow, and Sirius took the opportunity to slowly back out of the conversation and then take off hurriedly. James stood his ground, a childish pout pasted on his face.

"Your immaturity never fails to amaze me," Lily said. "It shouldn't surprise you that two prefects are on good terms with each other, you know."

"Yes, you prefects are all chummy," James snapped. "Why don't you dock some points from me like you promised future Head Boy? You've never had a problem with it before."

Lily stared at him, openmouthed.

"You could be a little more grateful!" she exclaimed. "I stepped in and—"

"I'm sorry that I wasn't _grateful_ enough to you, oh powerful prefect," James interrupted, folding his arms across his chest. "We should all bow down to you when we see you on your rounds, you high and mighty beings who deign to walk among us."

"Do you think it's easy being a prefect, Potter?!" Lily asked him.

"Do trolls smell?" James shot back, but immediately regretted it.

"Do you think it's _easy_ to have your friends walk on eggshells around you and never invite you to do anything fun?" Lily retorted, now furious. "Do you think it's _easy_ to be the stuck-up one who sticks to the rules? You'll never have any sort of authority, so you'll never know what it's like to deal with this kind of absolute bullshit! You have no regard for other people, James Potter, and I'm starting to think you never will!"

She was trembling, but she continued to glare at him, and he finally broke.

"I'm sorry," James muttered, looking down. "I never realized. I'm sorry I lost my cool over him. He's just such an—"

"Arrogant toerag?" Lily finished, biting her lip.

James looked up to meet her eyes, which were beginning to lose the flash of anger he had caught before.

"An arrogant toerag," he agreed. "And I know you don't tolerate those."

"You're right about that," Lily said, nodding. "How about we see if there's anything left in the Great Hall? I'm starving."

She gave him a gentle smile, one meant to convince him that things were okay between them. But James, now self-aware enough to be embarrassed, shook his head.

"I've got to get going," he told her. "Here, these are my favorite. Hope it makes up for what I said – well, at least a bit. I'm sorry, I really am."

He thrust a packet of Honeydukes chocolate into the stunned Lily's hands and began to walk away.

"Potter?" Lily called after him.

James stopped, but Lily hesitated before asking her question.

"How do you get into Hogsmeade undetected?" she inquired curiously.

James bit his lip. If he told her, the Marauders would think he betrayed them. On the other hand, she had just opened up to him, and if he didn't tell her, she would feel even more vulnerable. After thinking for a moment, he settled on a compromise and turned around to face her, his trademark grin finally back.

"Sorry, but that's a trade secret," James told her. "But what do you say I take you sometime?"

Lily couldn't stop herself from breaking out into a full grin as well.

"I'll hold you to that," she assured him.

And she did – finally, in their seventh year when they were Head Boy and Head Girl, James revealed the secret passageways to her. After all, he reasoned that if they were going to be excluded from all the fun as authority figures, they could at least break the rules together. Much to his surprise, his Head Girl girlfriend agreed.

:::

Though it remained difficult to get Lily to admit it, by the time sixth year rolled around, James and Lily had settled into friendship. It was with this knowledge that James finally dared to put forth to Lily the question he had been waiting patiently to ask. It was a day like any other – they were sitting quietly in the common room when James cleared his throat, causing Lily to look up from her Arithmancy book.

"Could you tell me about the prefects' bathroom?" James inquired.

Lily looked at him in amusement before scoffing and returning to her reading. James stared at her, hurt.

"Evans, you should know it took a lot of courage to ask you that," he informed her.

"You can go have a look yourself, _Captain_ ," Lily retorted, without looking up. "You know the password just like all of us. If you're too scared to go alone, why not just ask Remus?"

James sighed dramatically, prompting Lily to actually look over at him.

"Remus, you see," James began. "He's a man of great principle."

"Unlike yourself, you mean?" Lily asked.

"Now you begin to understand," James replied.

Lily grinned and finally closed her book – this conversation had to be going somewhere great.

"Remus has informed me that you prefects have a bathroom schedule," James continued. "He refuses, however, to share this schedule with me. One, he says because I will use it to prank others. Two, he says because I will use it to prank him."

"A man of principle indeed," Lily said thoughtfully, and James nodded serenely in response.

"Say a man wanted to happen upon a beautiful prefect," he suggested. "If he knew when she would be around, he could show up there. Outside in the corridor, of course – he doesn't mean anything inappropriate, he simply wants to catch this prefect while she's alone."

Lily blinked a few times, and her smile began to fade. At the beginning of their friendship, she had tried her very best to not lead James on, but perhaps her efforts had not been enough. Was this his roundabout way of propositioning her once more?

Upon seeing the look on Lily's face, James frowned.

"You think I'm awful," he sighed. "Pretend I never brought it up. I suppose this is how society reacts when one tries to arrange a set-up for oneself with Charlotte Davis."

Lily, nearly in shock, stared at the downcast boy.

"Charlotte Davis?!" she exclaimed. "Charlotte is way out of your league, Potter."

She began to laugh, all the while trying to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach by telling herself that it was simply relief.

"I know," James mourned, leaning over and putting his head in his hands. "That's why I thought…"

He trailed off and looked hopefully at Lily, who rolled her eyes but smiled.

"Fine," she agreed. "I'll take pity on you."

"Evans, you will not regret this," James promised, grabbing her hand and shaking it in gratitude.

"Oh, I already do," Lily groaned.

A few days later, James showed up at the bathroom at the time Lily had given him and waited for a few minutes next to the door. Once he heard the sound of the knob turning, he took a deep breath and turned as well. But it was not the beautiful Charlotte who had emerged from inside.

"Bloody hell, James!" Remus exclaimed. "How did you find out I was here?"

James, eyes still wide in surprise, was tongue-tied for a moment.

"Lily," he said faintly. "Lily told me. But she said it was Charlotte…"

"Great," Remus grumbled. "I told her that she should not tell you when I come here under any circumstances. What did she think that meant exactly?"

A sudden sense of realization dawned upon James, and his eyes lit up.

"Remus!" James exclaimed. "She didn't want me to find Charlotte!"

"That much is clear," Remus sighed, still concerned with his own loss. "I'll have to change my whole schedule now."

James shook his head, grabbed Remus by the shoulders, and looked at him in delight. Finally, the now horrified Remus understood James' train of thought.

"Wait a moment," Remus told him. "You're getting ahead of yourself, James. This could mean nothing – she probably wanted to mess with you. You said you were done going after Lily. Nothing but heartbreak, remember? Better off as friends, _remember_? Is this not ringing any bells for you, Prongs? You spent all summer moping over how you hadn't made any real progress with her!"

Even the use of his Marauder nickname could not snap James out of his euphoric state.

"I've got a chance," James said dreamily. "I've got a chance."

"Lily, what have you done?" Remus muttered.

Sitting in the Great Hall, Lily took a break from her conversation with Marlene to eye the clock with a satisfied grin. She knew exactly what she had done (though she didn't quite yet understand why).

:::

Lily and Marlene were enjoying a cold February day at the Three Broomsticks. Both sipped their warm Butterbeers at a table in the corner of the pub, clearly in no hurry to go back into the winter weather anytime soon.

"You know," Marlene remarked. "I bet at this time next year, I'll be having a Butterbeer with the Head Girl."

She looked suggestively at Lily, who simply laughed in response.

"You expect too much of me," Lily told her, waving the thought away. "There're tons of girls who could do it."

"But none who could do it better," Marlene replied.

"Now that's a good point," Lily giggled, making her best friend laugh along with her. "It would really be amazing though – I'd love to get it."

"Though you would have more suitors to contend with," Marlene sighed. "And you're already swamped as it is! I don't know how you do it, Lils."

"Oh, give me a break," Lily said, rolling her eyes. "You think I don't know when you sneak out of bed late to meet Black downstairs? Your bed is right next to mine, you know."

"Well, you don't even _try_ to hide your midnight study sessions with Potter," Marlene shot back.

"That's different!" Lily insisted. "We're just friends!"

Marlene burst out laughing.

"If that's friendship, then Sirius and I are just friends too!" she declared.

Before Lily had the chance to justify herself, the two boys in question walked through the door. As they looked around for an empty table, Marlene eyed the two empty chairs at their own table.

"Don't you dare," Lily told her, but it was too late.

"Sirius!" Marlene called. "Over here!"

She stood up and waved at him, and James and Sirius began to make their way over. Lily glared daggers at Marlene, who shrugged.

"It's just our _friends_ , right?" she asked.

Lily sighed as said "friends" approached the table.

"Evans, McKinnon," Sirius greeted them. "Who would've thought the straightest-laced girls in our year would be the ones to have a table at the pub?"

"Well, the Hog's Head was full, so we had to come here," Lily said sarcastically.

"And you make jokes too!" Sirius exclaimed, as James and Marlene laughed. "Guess prefects do take days off."

"If only gits could take days off too," Lily sighed.

The outraged Sirius opened his mouth to respond, but Marlene put a gentle hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Alright, alright," Marlene giggled. "Break it up, you two."

"Quite impressive, Evans," James commented. "Hard to get Sirius so riled up. We're going to need a couple Butterbeers to recover from that."

He caught Madam Rosmerta's eye, grinned, and motioned for her to bring some more drinks over. Once the table was full of warm mugs, each of them raised one up in a toast.

"To friendship," Marlene suggested, smirking at Lily.

"To friendship!" James and Sirius agreed enthusiastically.

They all looked expectantly at Lily, who rolled her eyes and gave in.

"To friendship," she said.

They all clinked their tankards against everyone else's before taking a sip. What followed was an hour of spirited conversation, lighthearted insults, and many, many laughs. Eventually though, Marlene looked at the clock.

"Oh, I've got to get to Honeydukes before I get back," she realized aloud, standing up. "I'm nearly out of my chocolate stock."

Sirius jumped in before Lily could even open her mouth.

"I'll come with you," he offered, getting up to leave with Marlene.

Marlene smiled and nodded, completely missing (or intentionally ignoring) all of Lily's subtle attempts to get her attention.

"Well, I'm up for another Butterbeer," James grinned. "What do you say, Evans? Next round's on me."

"I think I'll need something a bit stronger to spend more time alone with you, Potter," Lily told him.

"Well, we're going to head out," Marlene interjected. "You two can decide what you want."

Directing another knowing smirk at Lily, she took hold of Sirius' arm and led the all too willing boy out the door. Lily sighed and looked at James, who seemed to be undeterred by her seeming rejection of his plan.

"Well then," James said, standing up. "If it's something stronger you want, then we better go find your regular table at the Hog's Head."

He raised an eyebrow as if to challenge her, but Lily was not ready to back down.

"You lead the way," she agreed, putting on her coat with a smile.

"As you wish," James smirked.

They left the pub and began to walk towards the Hog's Head. Lily hid her anxiety under a thick scarf, while James hid his under an air of bravado. In fact, neither of them had been to the Hog's Head before, but neither wanted to be the first to say it. When they were halfway there, Lily cast her stubbornness aside and stopped, causing James to stop as well.

"Everything alright?" James asked.

"James, I've never exactly been before," Lily confessed. "To the Hog's Head, I mean. It's a bit—a bit off the beaten path that's all."

"Then it'll be an adventure, won't it?" James grinned. "I'll be there with you, Evans, don't worry."

This put Lily at ease almost immediately, and she returned his smile and nodded before they continued along on their way. It was only after James had his first Firewhiskey of the evening that he admitted that it was his first time at the pub as well, at which point Lily could do nothing but laugh and tease him for trying to impress her. James admitted this readily, which resulted in Lily laughing even more and continuing to tease him – and so the cycle continued for a few drinks.

Though Lily somehow convinced herself that this was what friends did, James was far beyond that. Later on, they would look back on that evening at the Hog's Head and call it a date – in fact, they would call it their first.

:::

When James showed up at the annual Slug Club Christmas Party, Lily could not hide her surprise. He saw her from across the room and simply grinned in response.

"Remus?" Lily said, elbowing her date for the evening. "What's he doing here? You didn't tell me he was coming."

Remus looked up from his plate of appetizers and sighed.

"I didn't know," he replied. "You should know though, he's coming over now."

Lily glanced back over at the other side of the room to find Remus' statement confirmed.

"Evans!" James exclaimed. "And is that you, Remus? I didn't know you were invited to these things!"

"Well, it's my first time," Remus admitted. "Lily invited me to be her date."

"Isn't that a coincidence?" James asked, with a grin. "Charlotte invited me to be hers."

Lily followed his gaze as he waved at Charlotte Davis, who was talking to Professor Slughorn. The beautiful prefect sent him a shy smile and a little wave in response. Remus looked over at Lily, trying to gauge her reaction, but she appeared to be unaffected.

"Old Slug really knows how to throw a party, doesn't he?" James remarked. "Food is fantastic!"

"Certainly," Remus agreed. "Speaking of which, I need to get more of whatever that first appetizer is. I'll be back."

He hurried away, leaving James and Lily to talk to each other.

"I'm a bit hurt that you didn't invite me, Evans," James told her. "But I suppose you have been friends with Remus for longer."

"It doesn't seem that you needed my invitation," Lily replied breezily.

She tried not to fixate on the fact that tonight she was _Evans_ , not Lily, while his date was Charlotte, never Davis. James studied her, trying to figure out what she was thinking, but soon gave up.

"You know," he said. "If I didn't know you better, I'd think you were jealous."

Lily burst out into unusually high-pitched laughter, and upon hearing the horrible sound she was emanating, decided to ignore his comment entirely.

"Charlotte is lovely," she remarked. "We get put on rounds together sometimes. How's the date going?"

"To be honest," James sighed. "Not great. She's amazing, really. But I don't think she likes me. Tell me, Evans, what do you look for in a bloke?"

Lily shrugged and silently cursed herself for getting into this situation.

"Come on," James insisted. "I need your feminine insight!"

"Alright, alright," Lily replied, racking her brain for something appropriate to say. "Well, I don't know. Someone who's smart obviously, dedicated and cares about some of the same boring stuff I do. Someone who really gets me, like he knows what I'm thinking before I know it. Someone really romantic, like proposal with an airplane banner romantic."

"Airplane?" James queried, raising his eyebrows in confusion.

"Oh, it's a Muggle thing," Lily explained. "Contraption that you can fly in from one place to another. Marvelously convenient, really. Sometimes people attach banners to the ends with proposals, for everyone to see in the sky."

"A flying proposal, huh?" James asked. "That just might be the thing, Evans."

He nodded, and Lily had to smile at the serious look on his face.

"You wouldn't be embarrassed at such a public proposal?" James said, after a moment.

"If it was the right guy, I would be downright giddy," Lily laughed.

James nodded again, looking thoughtfully off into the distance. Lily searched the room for Remus in an attempt to escape from the conversation but had no luck. Fortunately for her, James soon remembered his own date.

"I should go see what Charlotte's up to," he said. "Lovely running into you, Evans."

He flashed her a grin before going back to join his date on the other side of the room. The blonde prefect greeted him with a smile of her own.

"Welcome back, Potter," Charlotte laughed. "How is your lady love?"

"A bit confused, it seems," James replied, with a chuckle. "She doesn't know that she likes me yet."

"Perhaps she just doesn't like you," Charlotte suggested. "Lily is way out of your league, you know."

James considered this thought for a moment before shaking his head.

"Just wait," he told her. "You'll see."

"Yes, and Gryffindor will win the Quidditch Cup," Charlotte snorted. "Let's see just how many miracles you can work in one year."

James didn't bother replying, as he was too busy thinking about what she had just said. Lily and the Quidditch Cup – a _flying proposal_ …

"You're brilliant!" James exclaimed suddenly. "Absolutely brilliant! Thanks for having me as your date, really, helped a lot."

He began to rush off, and Charlotte watched him go in disbelief.

"Where are you going?" she called.

"To plan a victory!" James shouted back, not turning around.

:::

In honor of James' seventeenth birthday in March, the Marauders organized a huge party in the Gryffindor common room. The week before, they invited everyone they knew, with Sirius extending a personal invitation to Lily. He caught her in the Great Hall sitting with Marlene and joined them without asking.

"Hello, ladies," Sirius greeted them smoothly, putting an arm around Marlene.

"Nice of you to invite yourself to sit with us," Lily told him. "Marlene and I were in the middle of a conversation."

"I'm sorry, Evans," Sirius replied. "I just missed Marlene terribly and _had_ to sit down."

Marlene rolled her eyes but simultaneously leaned into his embrace.

"What do you want, Sirius?" she asked. "Tell us and go along on your way – we're busy."

She and Lily looked at him expectantly, and he grinned.

"It seems I've been figured out," Sirius laughed. "As you know, James is becoming a man next week. Friday night we're planning the party event of the year in your very own Gryffindor common room."

"We'll be there," Marlene assured him. "Now run along!"

Sirius looked over at Lily, who promptly avoided his gaze.

"Evans?" Sirius probed. "Are you planning to be there?"

"I've got rounds next week," Lily said quietly. "I can't."

Sirius looked at her in disbelief.

"You know how much it would mean to James," he pointed out. "You're seriously not going to come?"

Lily looked at Marlene, hoping for support, but she had the same knowing look on her face as Sirius.

"I'll do my best," Lily muttered.

Sirius glared at her as if to say 'you better damn well do your best' and planted a quick kiss on Marlene's cheek before getting up.

"Later, love," he said. "See you, Evans."

Marlene looked at her best friend worriedly.

"Lily, you can't miss Potter's birthday," she told her. "It wouldn't be right."

"Oh please," Lily shrugged. "That's just how they are. It's not a big deal."

Marlene narrowed her eyes, but Lily said nothing more.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Marlene sighed.

In private, the seemingly nonchalant Lily went crazy trying to change her schedule. Over the next week, Lily tried to switch rounds with nearly every other prefect, but nothing seemed to work out. She even promised to cover two shifts in exchange for one, but nobody would have it. Finally, she settled on a different plan. A few hours before the party was due to begin, she went down to the common room, present in hand. The Marauders were there setting up, but James was noticeably absent.

"Oh, look who it is," Sirius said, shaking his head. "I thought you couldn't make it, Evans."

"Let it go, Sirius," Remus told him, before the angered Lily could respond. "James is upstairs, Lily. I'm sure he'd be happy to see you."

Lily nodded at him in thanks and glared at Sirius before making her way up the staircase to find James.

"Hello?" she said. "James?"

She opened the door to the sixth year boys' dormitory to find James sitting on his bed.

"Sorry," James grinned. "No James here, just a Potter."

"Then I guess I can give this gift to someone else," Lily laughed, walking into the room.

"Must you wound me so, even on my birthday?" James asked.

"Technically it's not until midnight," Lily countered, with a smile. "I'm sorry I can't make it. But I brought you this."

She handed him the wrapped gift, and his hands lingered on hers as he accepted it.

"Thanks, Lily," James told her. "Means a lot, really."

"Oh, it's nothing," Lily replied. "I just thought I'd give it to you before I had to go off and do rounds. Happy birthday – well, almost. Maybe I'll catch you after I'm done."

"You don't want to miss out on all the fun, right?" James pointed out. "Even you have been known to drink a little Firewhiskey."

Lily blushed at the memory of their evening together at the Hog's Head and shrugged.

"We'll see," she said lamely, turning to leave.

"I'll see you there then," James decided.

The amused Lily said nothing in response as she left the dormitory. Once she was gone, James turned to the gift, wondering what it could be. As he tore open the wrapping paper, he realized that it was his favorite set of Honeydukes chocolates. Sitting on top of the box was a card, neatly folded into an envelope simply labeled 'James'.

 _Dear Potter,_

 _I meant to write your first name, really – old habits die hard. Anyhow, happy birthday. I've learned that in the wizarding world 17 is the age of adulthood, and you have really grown up these past couple of years. I'm glad that you approached me that night in the library, or I might have never known that there was more to you._

 _You mentioned to me once (right before you threw them at me and ran away) that these were your favorites. Once I tried them, I was hooked too. I keep a stock now, and I absolutely blame you. Hope your birthday is everything you hoped it would be._

 _Affectionately,  
_ _Lily_

James read the note, then reread it, then reread it again. After that, he tucked it away into his pocket with a smile. He did his best to keep his expectations low for the rest of the night, but when diligent prefect Lily Evans skipped out early on rounds just to be there with him at midnight, his heart nearly leapt out of his chest. This was not just what he had hoped his birthday would be—this was beyond his wildest dreams.

:::

May brought with it the final Quidditch match of the school year, and it was an important one. Gryffindor was playing Ravenclaw, and the winner would take the Quidditch Cup. Lily and Marlene had opted to stand with the Marauders and began to regret that decision as soon as the shouting began. Even the normally laidback Remus was getting into it.

"James, a troll could have made that shot!" Peter called.

"Keep this up!" Sirius jeered. "It's not like you have a match to win!"

"You call yourself a captain?!" Remus shouted.

Lily listened in amusement as their insults continued. She and Marlene, like the other Gryffindor fans, cheered at the right moments, but the Marauders got more and more offensive, if anything.

"Aren't you supposed to be supporting James?" Lily asked, during the first timeout.

"During James' first match, we heckled him to no end," Remus explained. "And he started getting angry at us and actually started to play harder just to prove us wrong."

"So now it's tradition," Sirius grinned. "Criticism and then unwavering support – that's how we win games!"

Quidditch superstitions were hard to argue with, so Lily didn't bother pointing out that they weren't actually doing anything to win the game. They completely changed their tune once the first timeout ended though, and even roused the Gryffindor stands into various chants of "Ravenclaw sucks" and "All hail Captain James" a few times. Lily found that her heart was in her throat as the game ended – both Seekers found the Snitch, and it only at the last minute that the Gryffindor Seeker thrust her hand just far out enough to capture victory.

The stands went wild, including Lily, Marlene, and the Marauders. Gryffindor hadn't won the Cup in their entire time at Hogwarts, and finally with James at the head of the team, they had done it. After the cheers died down, the Quidditch commentator gave James, as the winning captain, the opportunity to speak. James, still on his broom, flew out into the center of the pitch with the trophy held up high. The rest of the Gryffindor team followed behind him.

"All hail Gryffindor!" James declared, his voice booming around the pitch.

Another round of cheers began, and James let them finish before he resumed his speech.

"I want to thank this amazing Gryffindor team," he continued. "You've all worked so hard, and you showed everyone today that we really are the best team. Congratulations on a great season!"

A third and presumed final round of cheers rang around the stadium, but James was not done yet. He handed the trophy off to the Seeker and cleared his throat.

"I just wanted to take a moment to say something to Lily Evans," James said. "Without her, none of this would've been possible, because she makes me the best version of myself."

As he spoke, he began to fly towards where he knew Lily was standing. The dumbfounded Lily wanted nothing more than to duck, but Marlene clamped a hand down on her arm to prevent her from doing so.

"I asked you, a year and a half ago," James went on. "If I won Gryffindor the Quidditch Cup, if you would reconsider how you felt about me. And I know I haven't got an airplane or a banner, but this is as close as I could get. I love you, Lily. I think you might love me too, so I just want to ask – will you go out with me?"

James was now hovering right over where Lily was standing and looking down at her. Lily had no idea what to do with herself – the crowd had gone mad once more cheering for James, Marlene was looking at her encouragingly, and the Marauders were snickering behind her. She looked up at James, the boy who she had so vehemently hated and now… Now, what?

"Say yes!" someone shouted, and the crowd roared their approval.

Lily's head was spinning – memories were flashing through her head faster than she could think. How he had covered her with a blanket when he found her sleeping in the common room, the way he had comforted her after the loss of her friendship with Severus, the ashamed look on his face when he realized he had hurt her, the way she felt when she thought he liked another girl, the evening they had shared in the Hog's Head… He was right, she realized. Marlene was right. Everyone was right – why hadn't she seen it before?

She looked back up at James and was met by his trademark grin – she loved that grin, she decided. And she loved the boy attached to it.

She reached out to him, and he pulled her onto his broom. The stands erupted into the loudest round of cheers yet. James flew a brief victory lap before going outside the pitch entirely and guiding the broom down to the ground in a quiet patch of grass. They dismounted and for a moment, were silent.

"James," Lily said finally. "If that was the best version of yourself, I still think you're a very mediocre Chaser."

They both laughed, and he couldn't help but pull her into their first kiss. When he pulled back, his hands remained at her waist, holding her close.

"I love you," Lily told him. "I love you, and I didn't even know it."

"You haven't answered my question either," James reminded her.

Lily rolled her eyes and tenderly ran her hand through his messy hair.

"Yes, James," she replied. "Yes, I will go out with you. That's generally a given after the whole declaration of love thing, you know."

"Six years of rejection, Lily!" James exclaimed. "I'm just trying to play it safe."

Lily laughed, and this time she leaned forward to kiss him.

"I love you," she said again.

"And I love you," he replied.

At last, they were together.


End file.
